


Can You Imagine?

by astraplain



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-24 20:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4935115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraplain/pseuds/astraplain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Those words became Adam’s mantra</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can You Imagine?

“Can you imagine?” the librarian asked before spinning tales of talking animals and crayon drawings come to life. Four year old Adam was mesmerized.

Those words became his mantra, sending him to battle dragons and pilot planes with equal enthusiasm. His mother indulged him with home-made costumes and household goods transformed into props. The small back yard was always full of neighborhood children.

The phrase propelled him through his first years at school, making even math seem tolerable. When his classmates traded fantasy play for sports and dating, Adam escaped to the theater and acted out other people’s imaginings on stage.

He finished his first play when he was twelve. It was terrible but his mother praised him anyway and signed him up for a creative writing class. Adam put his own spin on every assignment, much to the teacher’s frustration. He finished his second play when he was fourteen.

At fifteen his imagination took him in unexpected new directions and the world of knights fighting dragons changed considerably. He bought a journal that locked and didn’t share his writing with anyone.

Going out with groups of friends led to tentative dates. It was mostly awkward and occasionally wonderful. Adam documented everything in his second journal. His third play still featured dragons, but there were two princes and no princesses. In the rewrite he removed the dragon.

A boy who used to be a friend stole Adam’s journal and shared passages with a group of boys intent on making Adam miserable. He spent half a year trying to avoid them and ignoring their taunts. He got a summer job working for a landscaper and between that and a late growth spurt, he filled out considerably.

When he returned to school in the fall his tormentors found a new victim and Adam found a boyfriend. It lasted until March and they parted as friends. Adam dated casually after that, until he was cast opposite Jeremy for a production at the community theater.

“Can you imagine–” Jeremy asked one night when they were sitting in Adam’s back yard pretending they could see a star-filled sky through the city lights. Adam kissed him before Jeremy could finish his question.

It was Jeremy that helped Adam fill out the NYADA application and Jeremy that held his hand when Adam showed his mother the acceptance letter. In the end, it was Jeremy that let him go, eyes misty but smiling bravely.

Adam heard from him a few times during his first year in New York. When he came home for the holidays, it was Adam who kissed Jeremy on the cheek and gave Jeremy’s new boyfriend his best wishes.

When he returned to New York, Adam invited a few of his classmates to start a glee club. By spring there were seven members and Adam’s Apples was born. While most of the students focused on their assignments and auditions, the Apples let their creativity run wild - joyously, if not always successfully. 

It wasn’t Adam’s habit to attend Winter Showcase, but in his senior year he was grabbing onto whatever NYADA offered for fear of missing something important. He never expected to fall in love.

If he’d been farther away from the fear of his own future, Adam might never have taken the risk. It ended the way he knew it would, neither of them in the right place for a relationship so intense. When Adam graduated, Kurt was in the audience but Adam didn’t speak to him. He let his mother and the Apples serve as a buffer and didn’t allow himself to look back.

He didn’t see Kurt again for more than a year.

There was an article in the newspaper, partway through the first section and below the fold, one more victim of a hate crime. Adam nearly skimmed past it but the small picture caught his eye; they’d used Kurt’s NYADA ID photo.

Adam wanted to send flowers, but work had been scarce and he was already skipping meals to pay the rent. He told himself that Kurt was with Blaine now, and would be well looked after. 

Ten more months passed before one of the Apples mistakenly copied him on an email and Adam learned that Kurt was no longer engaged. Soon after, Kurt walked into the bakery where Adam had just started working.

One slice of cheesecake and an awkward conversation later, they had exchanged phone numbers and a promise to call. Adam spent the rest of his shift convincing himself that he and Kurt could just be friends. They held out for almost three weeks.

Kurt’s new apartment was closer to NYADA and much smaller than the loft. Adam recognized some of the decor and it made him feel sad until he noticed the Adam’s Apples poster. The first time they kissed, it was in front of that poster.

They were in bed one night, holding each other in silence while they cast off the day’s stress. Adam’s thoughts were filled with the day’s work and tomorrow’s schedule. He almost missed Kurt’s quiet words: 

“Can you imagine–”

Adam couldn’t wait to hear the rest of the question. Memories came flooding back and Adam put them all into a kiss to share with Kurt; Jeremy and libraries and terrible scripts and the absolute joy of imagining. 

As wonderful as those things were, they were his past. With Kurt, there could be so much more. Princes. Dragons. A sky full of stars. 

Anything they could imagine.

::end::


End file.
